This page provides a compilation of resources on varied topics relevant to adult educators. Although the number of research studies focusing on adult learners is limited, the items listed in the "Research" category are evidence-based or recognized as "promising practices" by federal and state agencies.
This brief explores the application of the Social Emotional Learning (SEL) principles and related frameworks in adult education. Incorporation of SEL holds great promise in empowering adult learners with the skills needed for personal growth, career success, and active participation in society. It further examines how educators' overall well-being through their own development of SEL skills benefits both the educa ...
Resource type: Research Publications
AUDIENCE: Administrators , All teacher types
Topic: Student Engagement and SupportÂ
File Type: PDF
Produced by California Adult Literacy Professional Development Project, 2011; updated 2016
Based on the Adult Education Teacher Competencies, this tool allows a teacher to complete the assessment online and instantly view his/her results and recommended professional development resources that form the basis for an annual, individual professional development plan.
Authors: Renee Sherman, John Tibbetts, Dionne Dobbins, and Danielle Weidler, American Institutes for Research, May 1997
This publication identifies a set of recognized skills and knowledge areas possessed by effective program administrators. The purposes of this publication are to enable adult education administrators to think reflectively about their programs, to identify areas of strengths and areas for improvement for themselves and for their programs, and to plan and implement strategies that enhance the overall quality of their program.
Produced by California Adult Literacy Professional Development Project, 2008; augmented 2018
Based on the Management Competencies and Sample Indicators for Improvement of Adult Education Programs, this self-assessment allows administrators to instantly view their results, together with recommended professional development resources that form the basis for an annual, individual professional development plan. In 2018, the self-assessment was augmented: an addendum (PDF) was added that identifies additional knowledge and skills that program administrators need to possess in order to be effective in today's adult education landscape in California. For each of these areas, the addendum also identifies several recommended professional development resources.
Authors: Renee Sherman, Dionne Dobbins, John Tibbetts, Judith Crocker, and Michael Dlott, American Institutes for Research, March 2002
This publication introduces an assessment instrument to help programs implement the management competencies. What follows is a detailed description of the Management Competencies Assessment Instrument (MCAI), including an overview of the various types of evidence that will help verify of the existence of the competencies.
Authors: Renee Sherman, Dionne Dobbins, John Tibbetts, Judith Crocker, and Michael Dlott, American Institutes for Research, April 2002
This publication identifies a set of recognized skills and knowledge areas possessed by effective professional development coordinators. The purposes of this publication are to enable professional development staff and their supervisors to think reflectively about their professional development system, to identify how the system builds on the strengths of the coordinator and the professional development staff, to identify where there is room for improvement in both the coordination and delivery of services, and to plan and implement strategies that enhance the overall quality of their program's professional development activities.
Author: Jane G. Coggshall, American Institutes for Research, produced for the National Comprehensive Center for Teacher Quality, May 2012.
This brief discusses how state-level professional development policy, teacher certification policy, teacher evaluation policy, and teacher compensation policy can come together to build systems to support professional learning that effectively supports helping learners become ready to succeed in postsecondary education and the workforce in the 21st century.
Authors: Mark Kutner and John Tibbetts, American Institutes for Research, May 1997
This paper describes three components of an ideal professional development system: an intergovernmental infrastructure supporting professional development, the availability and delivery of multiple professional development activities and approaches that are based upon the systematically determined needs of both instructors and programs, and ongoing evaluation.
Authors: Renee Sherman, Mark Kutner, John Tibbetts, and Danielle Weidler, American Institutes for Research, June 2000
This guide was designed to help adult educators develop and implement comprehensive professional development systems that will benefit individual staff, the adult education program, and ultimately, the learner. It also discussed the roles of administrators, professional development coordinators, and instructors in designing, delivering, and supporting professional development activities. Finally, it included prototypes of needs assessments and individual professional development plans that could be adapted by state and local adult education programs to suit their own circumstances.
Produced by California Adult Literacy Professional Development Project, 2006
CALPRO offers these suggested guidelines for initiating and conducting discussion groups using the research digests, summaries, and bibliographies.
Authors: Arthur Evans and Renee Sherman, American Institutes for Research, September 1999
This guide is designed to assist individuals interested in pursuing graduate study in Adult Basic Education (ABE) or a related field. It is a work in progress and is essentially a "snapâshot" of ABE in graduate programs existing in the United States in 1999â2000.
